Saturday, November 11, 2017

Attention Gina Raimondo: No Corporate Welfare for Amazon

Isn’t it funny that
right-wing politicians across the country piously rant against giving a few
bucks worth of jobless benefits to the needy — then turn around and shove
billions of our tax dollars into corporate welfare for the greedy?

You’re right. It’s not
funny. But here we go again.

We’re presently
witnessing the most disgusting spectacle yet of the politico-corporate cabal
extracting money from the people’s wallets to enrich themselves.

Amazon.com, the
$136-billion-a-year internet colossus, has initiated a sleazy, self-serving
public bidding war over where it will locate its new corporate headquarters.
The city and state that offer the most bribe money to this private enterprise
will be “the winner.”

Uber-rich Amazon
doesn’t need — and certainly doesn’t deserve — any public handout. But
officials in 238 cities have prostrated themselves in front of this Amazonian
welfare queen in embarrassing bids to win her nod.

Amazon’s arrogant
executives even sent out a list of basic benefits they expect every applicant
to deliver, including a “business-friendly environment and tax structure,” free
land, a subsidy to reduce its operational costs, tax breaks, relocation grants
for executives and workforce, reduced utility bills, and — oh yeah, also give
us first-rate schools and an educated labor pool.

The typical result of
corporate giveaways is that they cost the public more than we get back. By
demanding such corporate spoils, Amazon brands itself a common thief, not only
taking our money, but also stealing our trust in the fairness of the system and
widening inequality in our society.